Girls' Night In
by exsquared
Summary: Sam and Vala continue their conversation at the end of Family Ties


Disclaimer - Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.

_AN: If you like Sam/Vala fics, check out the Women of the Gates ficathon on live journal._

Girls' Night In

Vala plopped down on the bed in her quarters and sighed. It had been a bad day. Actually it had been a bad month. Her father's reappearance in her life had been unexpected and unwelcome. She knew the minute she heard his voice through the Stargate that he would cause nothing but trouble, and unfortunately, she'd been absolutely correct. She tried to warn her new friends and colleagues about him, but as usual, they hadn't heeded her advice. Admittedly, she had the advantage of a lifetime of experience with the man, and they wanted to believe in him, and more importantly, in what he could bring them. Of course, he had conned them, just as he conned everyone eventually, including his daughter. In her case, it happened all too often. When would she learn? Once again, she'd allowed herself to believe that this time he'd changed; that this time he actually would stay straight; that this time he'd love her enough to keep out of trouble and stay in her life. It had been too much to hope for; and she'd let him break her heart once more.

Yet he was her father, and in the midst of all the lies and deceit, he did try to express his feelings for her. She glanced over at the pile of letters which she'd just read. Letters from Jasec, which she'd refused to open, much less read when he'd sent them. She knew now that most of what he'd written couldn't be believed; that the letters were most likely an attempt to manipulate her into helping him to run his scam on the SGC. Still, the words of affection and love, even if they were mostly a means to an end, did seem to be heartfelt. More than anyone, except possibly her mother, Vala knew when her father was lying. But in these letters, he claimed that he cared for her deeply, and it rang true to her. This time, she believed Jasec was sincere in his declaration of love for his daughter. Or maybe she desperately wanted to believe it.

He did unfailingly give her some gift whenever they met, although he inevitably tried to pass it off as some rare and exotic treasure. When she was younger, she believed him, but as she matured, she could recognize them as nothing more than trinkets. However, something deep inside made her keep every one of them, each one a connection to a father who was almost never around when she was growing up. After she was liberated from Qetesh, she returned to the spot near her old home where she had hidden the box containing her collection, dug it up, and had kept it with her ever since.

Now, she got up, went to the dresser and picked up the latest present, a necklace. Going around the bed, she reached underneath to pull out her jewelry box. Opening the box, she smiled and briefly ran her hand over the rest of the gifts which he'd given her over the years before adding the necklace. No matter how cheap and gaudy they were, they still were evidence that her father did care for her.

She heard a knock at the door, and called, "Just a minute."

She closed the box and shoved it and the letters under the bed. She didn't want anyone to see this sentimental side of her, especially with regards to her father. Old habits were hard to break, and she'd spent too much time keeping everyone at a distance to change all at once. She was beginning to forge some relationships with her new teammates- but even that concept was foreign to her. Teammates- how was that supposed to work? She was used to doing everything on her own and not trusting anyone. No surprise there, considering her father's influence. But it seemed that the team, and even General Landry, believed in her for the most part, and she was surprised at how good that made her feel.

Standing up, she said, "Come in."

The door opened and Sam came in, carrying a bottle of wine and two glasses, saying "Hi."

Vala replied, "Hi. What's this?"

"Girls' night in."

"Nice."

Vala moved to the bed and sat down as Sam settled on the footboard and placed the glasses there. Sam opened the wine bottle and began to pour it into the glasses.

Sam looked over and asked, "So, how are you doing?"

Glancing at Sam, Vala responded with "Great. Yeah, wonderful."

She looked down, not able to look at Sam and continued, "Everything went according to plan. We led Jasec to the decoy ship while you secured the real one. He scammed us, but we scammed him better." She looked up and smiled unconvincingly.

Sam gave a tight smile in sympathy, and as Vala said "Cheers," the two touched glasses and took a sip of the wine.

Vala asked, "So where are the boys tonight?"

Sam answered, "Uh, Cameron has a date, Daniel's exhausted, and Teal'c got tickets to some show."

Vala took another sip as she considered this. "Hmm."

Sam looked over at Vala, and then quickly looked away again. She wanted to say something, but hesitated before speaking. She didn't want to hurt her new friend by mentioning one of her father's misdeeds, but felt Vala should know.

"Vala, did you know that your father hit on me?"

Vala was visibly angry. "He what? He hit you? That's, that's …inexcusable! How dare he hit you?"

"No, no! I'm sorry, it's an expression. He didn't actually physically hit me; he made a pass at me."

Vala still looked confused at this. "Made a pass?"

Sam tried again. "I keep forgetting that you're not familiar with our slang. Sorry! He asked me out for dinner."

Now Vala looked embarrassed. "Oh, Sam, I'm sorry. He's such a, a, … I don't know even what to call it. I'm so sorry that he bothered you."

Sam waved this off, and said, "No, don't worry about it, it wasn't a big deal. As a matter of fact, I have a little gift for you and that's why I brought it up."

Vala beamed and asked "A gift? For me?"

Sam took a disc from one of her BDU pockets and went to the DVD player attached to the TV in Vala's quarters. She turned on both the TV and DVD player and said, "The security cameras were running and I made a copy of the relevant part. I looped it, so that you can watch the best part over and over."

The screen opened with a shot of Sam and Jasec in Dr. Lee's lab along with Dr. Lee.

Sam paused the action and told Vala, "This was when Jasec was helping us to calibrate our detection systems to find Arkad's naquadah. Jasec had just expressed his disappointment in our facility and his opinion that the decision makers should show the Stargate program the respect it deserves after doing so much to save the planet. After hearing his next line, I think he was just blowing smoke up my …, oh sorry, more slang - trying to get on my good side."

She hit the play button.

On the screen –

Jasec looks at Sam over her laptop and asks, "Say, how'd you like to go out to dinner with me once this is all over?"

Sam, at first looks disbelieving; then narrows her eyes and says, "Oh I don't think so."

He looks puzzled. "Why not?"

She rises up and says sincerely, "Well, I'm an incredibly busy person with very little free time."

He nods in understanding.

She then raises a finger and looks pained as she continues, "Oh! And you're a jerk."

He gives a little smile and answers "Oh, of course there's that."

He straightens up too, and goes on, "Look, I'm sorry that I had to trick you. But if you'd known what I'd planned, you would have never let me on this planet."

Sam glares and forcefully tells him, "I'm talking about the way that you treated Vala. To think that the first time since she was a child, she was actually beginning to trust you."

He looks unnerved by this accusation.

The display jerked now, going back to Sam saying, "Oh! And you're a jerk," and Jasec's response, "Oh, of course there's that." This clip repeated several times before the screen went blank.

Vala had to turn her head for a moment to hide her emotions while watching the original clip. Sam's attack on Jasec in her defense was surprising and gratifying. She felt that she and Sam were becoming something more than colleagues, but she hadn't had a friend in so long that she wasn't sure what it meant anymore. Sure, they went shopping together and had some talks about work and personal matters, but that seemed to be a surface relationship. This was a demonstration of a deeper level of friendship, and Vala was touched by it.

Sam looked at Vala, unsure of her reaction. She'd hoped that Vala would find the looped clip amusing, and that seeing Jasec shut down so firmly and then acknowledging his own bad behavior might be a way to relieve her frustrations with her father. But maybe she'd misjudged entirely. Vala's lack of response worried her.

Sam told Vala, "I'm sorry, I can get rid of it if you don't want to be reminded of him."

Vala answered quickly. "No, I love it! I really do. It's great, and I do want to watch it over and over."

"It's a wonderful gift, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. But even more, thank you for standing up for me to my dad. I'm not used to anyone standing up for me, and it means a great deal."

With that, she stood up, went over to Sam and hugged her.

After a brief hesitation, Sam hugged back, and answered,

"Vala, you just need to get used to it, I guess. You're part of our family now, which means that we stick up for each other. Sometimes it also means that we stick our noses into each other's business more than we should, but that's part of being a family, too."

They sat back down and Sam poured more wine.

"Some day, I'll have to tell you about my dad. I totally loved him, but he could drive me crazy. But we don't have enough wine for me to go into that tonight."

Vala thought that there must be an interesting story there, and looked forward to hearing it. In the meantime, she pointed at the remote next to Sam and requested, "Play it again, Sam?"

Sam groaned, and then looked suspiciously at Vala. "Did Teal'c tell you to say that when the right opportunity came up?"

Vala had no idea what Sam meant, and could only weakly reply, "Teal'c? No…"

Sam interrupted her. "No, Teal'c probably hasn't seen the movie. It's black and white, and he'd just skip over it while he was channel surfing. Cameron! It sounds like his idea of a joke. Was it Cameron?"

Vala was completely puzzled, and said so. "I really don't know what you're talking about. What did I say?"

Sam flushed, and answered. "Sorry. It's a knee-jerk reaction for me now. So many people love to quote that line to me, and it was funny the first two or three times; then it became tedious. 'Play it again Sam' is a well-known line from one of the most famous movies of all time, _Casablanca_. I thought that either you'd seen the movie or one of the guys told you about it. Obviously not, and I apologize for overreacting."

Vala grinned, and said, "I wish I'd known. I'd probably have said it anyway, but I would have enjoyed your reaction more if I'd done it on purpose."

Sam sarcastically replied "Thanks."

She went on, "I'll rent the movie and we'll watch it one of these nights. It's a great romance. But you know, maybe we should invite Teal'c too. I think he might appreciate the rest of the story."

"Speaking of Teal'c, did he tell you which play he was going to? He rushed out of here before I had a chance to ask. I was surprised that he'd go to a play. He usually sticks to movies."

Vala took another drink of wine, and answered, "I'm not sure. I know that he got the ticket from my father. Jasec offered it to me, but I didn't want it, because I was afraid of the type of show he might be interested in."

She thought for a moment, and offered, "I think Jasec called it something like 'Virginia Dialogue.' Could that be right?"

Sam stared at her for an instant, and then broke into laughter so hard that Vala could see tears streaming from her eyes.

Vala looked around; trying to see what had set the woman off. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she asked, "Am I missing something? Another slang term, perhaps?"

Sam finally gained enough control to gasp out an answer of sorts. "Teal'c… at the… Vagina Monologues…"

She began whooping again, even louder this time. Vala was afraid that a security team might come bursting in at any moment, and she was almost ready to place a call to the infirmary when Sam's hysteria abated.

Tears were still evident on her face, but she took a few deep breaths and began to explain what was so funny.

"Women – talking about their vaginas. That's what the play is about. That's all it's about. It's a series of monologues where women performers talk about various aspects of vaginas. Menstruation, sex, douching, you name it, they talk about it. Can you imagine Teal'c, the epitome of the heterosexual male, still uncertain about earth customs, sitting there listening to women talk about all of that? God, I wish I could be there, just to see his reactions."

She started giggling and described the picture forming in her mind. "Teal'c squirming in his chair, cap on his head to cover his emblem, unbearably uncomfortable with the subject matter, but too embarrassed to get up and leave because he's probably the only male in attendance and his exit would just lead to further humiliation."

This time, Vala joined in the laughter, envisioning the former first prime in a situation which probably made him wish that he was back on his home world where women never spoke of such things. Or so he probably thought.

She stopped laughing, struck by a sudden idea. "Ooh! We have to think of a way to tease him with this."

Sam agreed. "Yes, but we have to do it right. Let's not tell anyone else, and you can bet that he won't."

Vala replied. "We can subtly bring things up from time to time, and act innocent if he reacts."

"Oh, I like that. We can drag this out for a long time if we don't overdo it."

Sam tipped her glass in a toast and giggled. "To Teal'c and the Virginia Dialogues!"

Vala tipped back and added "To Friends who are Family!"

Maybe it hadn't been such a bad day after all.


End file.
